Tatar’s 222 points in 407 games for the Red Wings, 115 goal and 107 assists, provided a significant chunk of the offense, once he broke into the lineup under Mike Babcock with nine games played in 2010-11 and 18 the next season.

In the next four seasons, Tatar scored 19, 29, 21 and 25 goals, before tallying 16 through 62 games this season.

His teammates know his big personality, too.

There is a bit of playful mischievousness to Tomas Tatar. It could lighten a moment.

What seemed to trouble Blashill particularly is what he knows, down deep, about Tatar.

“He wanted to be a Red Wing,” the coach said. “He was proud to be a Red Wing.”

Taking the phone from Holland on Monday after the trade deadline, when the Red Wings moved Tatar for a first-round pick in 2018, a second round pick in 2019 and a third round pick 2021, Blashill said he asked Tatar how he was doing.

Tatar said the trade surprised him, Blashill said.

But neither the coach or the team mates are likely to be much worried about Tatar, whose buoyant personality seems likely to carry him through any disappointment, the uncertainty of new things and the considerable inconvenience of uprooting from a home of several years.

Meanwhile, Tatar is likely to jump in on the third line for a team that is the toast of the NHL this season.

The Golden Knights are destined for the playoffs in their first season in the NHL, as arguably the most successful expansion franchise in history.

And, Tatar will play for a successful coach who has a considerable reputation as “a player’s coach,” and who once scored a good amount of goals himself for the Red Wings, Gerard Gallant.